Bhavnagar: Sanitation worker dies while cleaning sewage tank on govt lab campus | Rajkot News

A sanitation worker of Bhavnagar Municipal Corporation died of suffocation while another fell seriously ill after entering a sewage tank at the Central Salt and Marine Chemicals Research Institute (CSMCRI) campus in Bhavnagar city on Friday.

The incident occurred around 11 a.m. when cleaners from the company and a private contractor hired by the CSMCRI were cleaning the sewage lines on the campus.

The deceased employee of the company has been identified as Rajesh Vegad (45). The sick worker, Suresh Goradiya, is an employee of a private contractor hired by CSMCRI.

Bhavnagar Municipal Corporation Commissioner NV Upadhyay told The Indian Express, “The CSMCRI had taken services of the corporation to clean its sewage network. Accordingly, our employees and private contractor employees cleaned the sewer line using suction machines for approximately 45 minutes. Afterwards, one of the CSMCRI contractor’s employees climbed into a sewage tank but was hit by poisonous gas. Vegad jumped into the tank to save the worker, but was himself hit by poisonous gas.”

Asked whether Vegad was wearing safety gear while entering the septic tank, the commissioner said: “He was not wearing safety gear as he was not allowed to enter the tank. Cleaning should only be done with a vacuum machine.”

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Kanji Zapadiya, executive engineer in charge of the company’s drainage department, said Vegad managed to bring Goradiya to safety. “The company’s team consisted of three sanitation workers and a suction machine driver. After the team vacuumed the septic tank with the suction machine, Goradiya started climbing down the pit. Our staff asked him not to do this, but Goradiya told them that he often enters tanks.”

“But after a while he stopped talking to our staff and fell unconscious. Vegad entered the tank to save him. He lifted Goradiya to the machine hole of the tank and our staff pulled him out. But now Vegad was affected by the gas. He lost his balance and fell into the tank,” Zapadiya said.

The fire department then arrived and pulled Vegad out of the tank. He was taken to hospital where doctors pronounced him dead on arrival. This is the second incident of sewer deaths in Saurashtra. In March, two sanitation workers were killed while cleaning a drainage pipe in Rajkot.

© The Indian Express Pvt Ltd

First published on: 11-11-2023 at 01:03 IST